Thursday afternoon fire draws a lot of attention

August 1, 2011

Thursday afternoon big clouds of black smoke from the northern part of the ConocoPhillips refinery drew the attention of local residents.
The good news, according to Hutchinson County EOC Director Danny Richards, is the smoke made the fire appear worse than it was with fire crews being able to contain the fire from ever being a threat to the Borger community.
At approximately 4:00 p.m., ConocoPhillips fire crews responded to a fire that was caused by a small leak in a pipeline located within the refinery property.
Richards said the initial fire from the pipeline sparked off a small grassfire leading to the Borger Fire Department being called out to offer assistance.
Borger FD rendered aid and were able to get the grassfire quickly under control. The Borger FD was released from the scene at 5:10 p.m. Less than ten acres of land were damaged from the grassfire.
Fire crews from the refinery allowed the fire to burn until late Thursday evening in order to reduce the pressure before repairs could get underway.
No serious damages or injuries were reported.